Portable appliances, such as vacuum cleaners and power tools, are ubiquitous to our society. The size, shape, function, and effectiveness vary considerably depending on consumer desires and pricing. What is a constant, however, is that they all require power. Generally, AC power through a power cord supplies power to a majority of appliances, such as vacuum cleaners. The typical long cord, or extension cord, plugged into an outlet must be moved and traversed and managed as the appliance is moved from area to area throughout a house, site, or other location. DC power is provided to small handheld units for more convenience in accessing remote locations.
A difficulty in DC power is that the DC power is typically provided by a battery with a necessarily limited run time. When the battery is discharged, the operation ceases unless another battery can be inserted as a replacement. Thus, a user desiring a DC powered unit has intermittent usage capabilities. AC power is generally reserved for the larger, more powerful units for effective operation.
Some current appliances have a capability of operating on a rechargeable DC battery pack or AC power. When the DC battery pack is discharged, the unit can be operated on AC power by plugging in its power cord to an AC outlet. The DC battery pack is removed from the unit to be recharged at a remote location. It does not have the capability to remain with the unit and be recharged. A user is unnecessarily inconvenienced to constantly have to remove the DC battery pack, find the charger, insert the battery pack, operate the appliance, return to the DC battery pack to determine if it has been recharged, and then reinsert a recharge DC battery pack into the appliance at a later time.
Therefore, there remains a need for a simplification and increased utility of a method and system operable from both rechargeable DC power and AC power sources.